August 5, 1774

1774 In response to a call from Georgia patriots to meet in Savannah on August 10, Georgia royal governor James Wright issued a proclamation prohibiting any unlawful assembly to protest British policy. Wright further warned in his proclamation that "all assembling and meetings of the people which may tend to raise fears and jealousies in the minds of his Majesty’s subjects, under pretence [sic] of consulting together for redress of public grievances, are unconstitutional, illegal, and punishable by law."

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August 5, 1870

1870 Former Union general Ethan Allen Hitchcock died in Sparta, Ga.

August 5, 1889

1889 Noted poet and writer Conrad Aiken was born in Savannah. At age 11, his father killed his mother and then committed suicide, after which young Aiken went to live with a distant relative in Massachusetts. While attending Harvard, he met T.S. Eliot and other great writers. Here, he threw himself into poetry. In 1914, two years after graduation, Aiken’s first collection of poetry was published. Other volumes followed, though he soon also began writing stories and novels. In 1930, he won a Putilizer Prize for his previous year’s work, Selected Poems. In the following decades, he won numerous other awards and recognitions, and in 1973 Gov. Jimmy Carter designated him as Georgia’s poet laureate. Shortly afterwards, on Aug. 17, 1973, Aiken died in Savannah.

August 5, 1900

1900 James Augustine Healy, born in Jones County, GA in 1830 and who had become the nation’s first African-American Roman Catholic bishop, died in Portland, Maine.

August 5, 1910

1910 Legislation by the General Assembly making it a misdemeanor to bet on elections in Georgia was signed into law by Gov. Joseph M. Brown.

August 5, 1913

1913 This was the eighth day of the trial of Leo Frank. Jim Conley was cross-examined mercilessly by Frank’s defense attorneys for seven hours. While Conley was confused on some minor details, and admitted lying to police originally, and to having been arrested numerous times, he still held to his story of the previous day. Defense attorney Luther Rosser was unable to break any of the main points of Conley’s story. When the day ended Conley was still on the stand, while defense attorneys argued that his testimony of having been a lookout for Frank on earlier occasions should be stricken from the record as irrelevant to the case.

August 5, 1913

Georgia cities and towns incorporated by acts approved on Aug. 5:

1913 Kramer (Wilcox County)

August 5, 1958

1958 The Dahlonega caravan of seven covered wagons bearing 43 ounces of Dahlonega gold for use in covering the state capitol dome arrived in Roswell-Sandy Springs area, where they camped out for the night.